10 Most Expensive Beers Of The World

Who does not love a long swig of their favorite ale on a hot summer’s evening? After all, it’s chilled, it’s cool and easy on the wallet too. Well, not the ones listed below.

Hold your breath, as we bring you the world’s top 10 expensive beers.

1. Space Barley by Sapporo

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Japanese brewery Sapporo and Russian scientists came together in 2006 to brew this beer that is out of this world – literally! The seeds of the barley from which the beer was made were kept in the International Space Station for five months. While it was all a part of research to study the possibility of self sustenance in space, Sapporo went ahead and brewed the barley to make this beer called Space Barley. A six pack is priced at $110 – we think it would taste heavenly, no?

2. Ambassador Reserve by Crown

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The land which gave us Fosters is the land where one of the most expensive beers is brewed. Crown Ambassador Reserve lager is usually priced at $90 for a full bottle – although some bottles have been auctioned off at prices as high as $800. It usually sells on eBay at $200-300. It is aged for a year in French oak barrels, and Crown has sold four batches till now since 2008, with each batch having 8000 bottles. With prices like wine, packaged like champagne and taste like beer – this is one heady drink, mate!

3. Tutankhamun Ale

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How much will you shell out for a bottle of beer that is as exotic as it gets? Well, the first bottle of this jewel developed by Cambridge researchers and Scottish breweries was sold at $7,686! It all started when the researchers, on an Egyptian expedition unearthed Queen Nefertiti’s own royal brewery. With an electron microscope, traces of ancient beer residue was found and the over 3 millennium-old recipe quantified. So the 1000 bottles brewed after that was literally a royal drink. Prices later went down to $75 for a 500ml a bottle.

4. Sink The Bismarck! by BrewDog

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BrewDog, a Scottish brewery, is famous for its products with wacky names (Trashy Blonde and I Hardcore You, for instance). Sink The Bismarck! was a 2010 offering from the brewery, which was a comeback against Schorschbräu, a German brewery who held the record for the strongest beer. It is four times as bitter as a normal beer, and as strong! Price? A cool $80 for 375ml.

5. Utopias by Samuel Adams

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The strongest commercial beer of the world when it was launched in 2002, it has an abv of 27%. Made with caramel, Vienna, Moravian and Bavarian smoked malts and matured in scotch, port and cognac barrels, it is a limited edition beer. Only 9000 bottles were released in 2000, and they come in a pretty ceramic bottle that looks like a copper-finished brewing kettle. American beer though it is, it is banned in 13 states due to its abv! You need to shell out $150 for a 700ml bottle.

6. Schorschbock 57 by Schorschbräu

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Claimed to be the strongest beer in the world, it was released in 2011 with an abv of yes, 57%! Any higher alcohol content and Germany’s 500 year-old Beer Purity Law would be broken. Exclusivity at its best – only 36 bottles were released, each for a cool 200 Euros. Smoky and nutty, with hints of raisin, it put #4 on our list back in its place. And how!

7. Jacobsen Vintage by Carlsberg

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One of the most popular beer companies in India, Danish brewery Carlsberg’s Jacobsen Vintage was a beer trilogy – giving luxury wines a run for their money. Priced at $400 for 375ml, its expiration date is 2059 – so you can save the last drink to share with your grandchildren, if you want! With flavors of vanilla and cocoa – with hints of peaty ‘tar and rope’, it was matured in French and Swedish oak barrels.

8. The End of History by BrewDog

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Another one from BrewDog, this one combines luxury, strength and just the oomph factor – taxidermy! With only 12 bottles, each made out of stuffed barnyard critters – it is priced at $765 for a 330ml bottle, with 55% abv. Belgian ale, mixed with nettles and juniper berries – it has been freeze-distilled multiple times.

9. Blue Ribbon 1844 by Pabst

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Fancy an ale made in China? We kid you not. Although Pabst is an American company, the Chinese Pabst upgraded the US Blue Ribbon to Blue Ribbon 1844 with German caramel malts, matured in uncharred American whiskey barrels – and a heck of a beautiful glass bottle! Priced at $44 for 720ml, this is 44 times more expensive that Pabst beers in USA.

10. Antarctic Nail Ale by Nail Brewing

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With an abv of 10%, the catch here is that the beer has been brewed with water melted from an Antarctic iceberg dug by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. So when the award-winning brewery released this $800/500ml bottle, all profits went to the welfare organization. With only 30 bottles released, the prices went up to as high as $1,815 later!

Such extravagance, we wonder where our Kingfisher is at? Maybe the dwindling company can concoct something as fancy as these for us in India. Cheers!